Don't kill me D: I know it's been over a month and I suck. Anyway, last chapter! Not too long of an Authors note this time :)
I hope you wonderful readers of mine are still out there, enjoy:
Will sighed, lips drawn tight in frustration and right eye-brow twitching. As he battled his way through the crowded hallway after Arthur, Will wondered what on Earth Merlin saw in the blond. The idiot had run off without letting him finish, presumably to do something stupid like approach Merlin with no sensitivity at all and suck the face off the other boy. That of course would not end well, not with Merlin in the mood he was currently in right now. Before he had confronted Arthur, he had given the whole situation very deep thought, thinking up ways to get the two close again, because although he hated the guy, from what he had heard, the two used to look really happy together and he knew that Merlin at least used to genuinely like the guy. He had a whole plan thought out, which of course now was rendered useless since he was silenced and then ditched before he could even utter a word of warning about Merlin.
"Don't touch me."
Will groaned as he heard the distinct voice of his friend. Bloody Arthur Pendragon. Slipping into the room, Will leaned silently against the wall. The damage was done, Pendragon would just have to do it the hard way.
---
Arthur flinched at the words, feeling the blow to his heart. Looking into the sad, hurt blue eyes that he so loved, reality hit Arthur. He had done this.
"Merlin.. I.."
Blue eyes narrowed.
"What Arthur? What do you want? For me to leave you alone, to not mention to anyone that we were ever friends? Don't worry, you don't have to worry about me, a fucking homo ruining your name. I'm sorry I ever thought we were friends and I'm sorry I climbed up that tree that day."
Arthur staggered back, flinching at each word. The pain in his chest was intensifying. His lips quivered as he tried desperately to say something, anything to the boy in front of him. Helplessly, Arthur watched as Merlin rubbed his eyes against his arm to keep tears from falling before making to walk away. Opening his mouth, Arthur voiced out automatically what he had wanted to say for so long.
"I love you."
Merlin shook, tears now falling freely from his eyes. It had already hurt enough, and now it felt as if Arthur was messing around with him, playing with his feelings.
"Is this some kind of a sick joke?"
"No, Merlin I-"
Merlin looked away, "You said it yourself yesterday. You don't have to pretend anymore."
Arthur stepped over to the shuddering figure, turning the raven-haired head gently so they were face to face. With his hands still cupping the sides of Merlins face, Arthur looked desperately into the cerulean eyes.
"I'm not lying Merlin, I love you and I'm sorry for everything that I've done, I need you to know that I didn't mean anything I said yesterday. Please Merlin."
Arthur hated himself. Staring at the beautiful face in front of him, he knew he didn't deserve any of it, but it was impossible to let go.
The two stood silently together before Merlin tore away. There was no more anger evident in his eyes, instead they were filled with sadness.
"You ignored me for a week Arthur, you beat up my best friend and then you said those things. So don't lie to me."
"William Dempsey. Would William Dempsey please come to the front office, your mother is here to pick you up."
Will cursed the bad timing. Although now was perhaps the best time return to less dramatic Ealdor and leave it to the two to sort things out, the interruption from the PA system could not have made things more awkward.
Catching his best friend's eye, Will nodded a small goodbye before exiting as discreetly as possible.
---
Will scowled as he made his way to the school car park, cursing the office lady for not calling him after his mother had filled out the extensive paperwork that was required.
Beeping the car doors open, Will was surprised to see a familiar dark haired figure already sitting inside, head casually against the car door window.
"Merlin..?"
Without moving, the pale figure responded.
"The left door at the back was always a little faulty, you should probably have it checked."
Will moved inside the car, both boys shifting so that they were sitting comfortably together like millions of times Merlin hitched a ride with Will in his mums car.
"Merlin, what are you doing here?"
Will watched as his best friend attempted to put on a smile, but he could see the fresh tear tracks and after a lifetime of friendship he could tell when the boy was faking it.
"I'm going back to Ealdor with you."
Will sighed,
"No Merlin."
Merlin looked down, fresh tears forming in his eyes,
"Fine," he muttered, reaching for the car door, "I'll take the bus."
Reaching out, Will pulled his best friend into a hug, letting him cry silently into his shoulder for a little while before pushing him gently away.
"Merlin listen to me, you belong in Camelot with Arthur, not in Ealdor digging up bloody turnips on a farm."
"But I – "
Will waved away Merlins response with a hand.
"Do you love him?"
Merlin looked away.
"No." He whispered.
Will sighed,
"Merlin, I know when you're lying to me. Do you love him?"
"He doesn't – "
Growling, Will grabbed onto his friends shoulders.
"Bloody hell, the guys a prick but he loves you. He loves you."
Marching out of the vehicle and pulling Merlin with him, Will pushed him away from the car and into the back end of the schools grass area.
"Merlin, if you turn up in Ealdor, I swear I'll punch you. Only metaphorically because I like you, but trust me, it will hurt. Email me."
Running back to the car, Will was relieved to see both Merlin still standing in the same spot, too stunned to move and his mum in the driver's seat.
Mrs. Dempsey smiled, "Is that Merlin over there?"
Will responded by frantically buckling his seat belt, "Drive drive drive!"
---
As Merlin watched the car drive away the words rang through his head, he loves you.
Looking at the school, he felt a pit of nausea rise up in his stomach, there was no way he could go back in there today. Automatically he began walking until he reached the tree in which he first sought refuge. Deciding this was the best place to hide from the world, Merlin began climbing up, the words still ringing through his head.
---
Arthur sat on the tree branch, idly picking at the bark, not really caring that his fingers were beginning to bleed. It was all over, he had ruined the best thing in his life, and boy did it hurt. Hearing scuffling and the small tell-tale signs that somebody was climbing up the tree, Arthur scowled, he was in no mood to accept company. Moving towards the trunk of the tree to tell the imposer to sod off, his breath caught as he met face to face with Merlin Emrys.
Not knowing what to say, Arthur remained silent. He wanted desperately to pull the beautiful figure in front of him into a kiss, to tell him how much he loved him, but he couldn't bear the thought of hearing an "I hate you," or a "But I don't love you," from Merlin on top of what he had already experienced today.
After recovering from shock, the raven-haired boy moved slowly onto the tree branch, sitting somewhat awkwardly next to the blond.
"Hi." Said Merlin, staring off into the distance.
Arthur was relieved, this was more then he could hope for, they were talking however awkward and little it was.
"Hi." He replied softly.
The two sat in silence again, Arthur staring at Merlin and Merlin staring at the horizon before Merlin spoke, turning his head slightly so that he could see the other boy in the corner of his eye.
"I told Will I was going back to Ealdor."
Arthur flinched, he wanted to scream, to beat himself up for letting this happen.
"Oh."
"He wouldn't let me though."
Feeling both relief and gratitude, Arthur reached into his bag, pulling out a thick wad of scruffy looking papers, holding them out cautiously to the other boy.
"I wrote a story about you."
Arthur watched as Merlin slowly picked up the papers, staring blankly at the title page entitled "Wonder boy"
Looking down at the ground, Arthur began talking.
"It's about a boy who's miserable. He's stuck in this horrible world where he doesn't have any real friends and he can't be himself. Then wonder boy comes and saves him. He pulls him out and shows him all these great things. He becomes the boys first real friend and can see who the boy really is. Using his powers, he slowly heals the boy so he's no longer miserable. Then the boy falls in love with wonder boy. It's all fine until the boy gets jealous and he does some horrible things, he chases away wonder boy and now he's back in the shadow world where he's miserable. Only this time he knows that life could be so much better, and it hurts him to know that he did to wonder boy."
Tears formed in Merlins eyes as he listened. At the same time he flipped through the pages, glancing at a few sentences and finding they were mainly descriptions, "beautiful dark hair..staring into his perfect eyes..beautiful figure hypnotized me..ears entrancingly large"
"How does it end?"
Arthur smiled sadly, looking up,
"Miserable boy realises that he doesn't deserve Wonder boy."
There was another pause of silence before Merlin spoke up.
"I don't really like that ending."
---
A few months later
The four friends sat around the small wooden dining table, the blond male in particular was trying hard to ignore the harsh Ealdor heat.
"So, how did you two get together?" asked Freya, the shy but pretty girl who was currently dating Will.
Merlin smiled cheekily with a proud look adorning his face,
"Arthur wrote me a story."
Freya gasped, turning towards the intimidating blond that she had previously avoided speaking directly to.
"Wow, that's so-"
Will interrupted with a snort,
"Cheesy right? I mean, it's worse than writing someone a crap love song or a poem."
To the amusement of Merlin and Arthur, Freya turned bright red, before nudging her boyfriend,
"William! Don't be so mean."
Arthur laughed,
"It's fine, I don't mind what goes on in his thick skull, as long as wonder boy here likes it, I'm happy."
Merlin smiled,
"Loved it. You know, aside from the few grammatical errors I spotted."
Arthur grinned, pulling the raven-haired boy in for a kiss.
Will fake gagged in the background, "Excuse me while I slowly suffocate due to over-exposure of cheesiness"
Merlin broke apart from the kiss, much to Arthurs disapproval,
"Fine, we'll move."
Standing up, with incredibly devious grins on their faces, the pair moved into a nearby room before promptly shutting the door.
Will shuddered, "Gods, if you two are going to be staying in the same room tonight I'm sleeping outside."
Staring curiously after the two lovers, Freya turned towards her boyfriend,
"Love, isn't that your bedroom they walked in to?"
Realisation dawning on his face, Will raced towards his room, thumping on the door.
"You two better not be doing what I think you're doing. Bloody hell, I sleep in there! Guys! GUYS!?"
Wheee, last chapter ;D Hope you guys like it. Forgive me though, I'm not the best at writing dramatic/angst/love scenes. Thank you guys for reading, sticking around and reviewing ^-^ I would be brilliant if you guys reviewed one last time to let me know what you think
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